As a secondary-school student, I recall that the approach of summer each year was a mixed blessing.
On the one hand, the weather was getting warmer and the days were getting longer, which was a real joy after going through many months of winter conditions, and the summer months were a time when us students could look forward to more than two months off of school.
On the other hand, we had to go through the torture of the final exams for the year before we were given our tickets to freedom to enjoy the many pleasures of the warm season.
During my final year of high school, our teachers began warning us in January that we were required to take government-issued exams, as opposed to school-based ones, at the end of the school year to graduate.
The teachers told us that the government exams were typically much harder than the ones they usually provided us, so we had better get our acts together early and prepare for them if we had any inclination towards heading to university, trade colleges or jobs that require good grades in high school.
So I took the teachers’ warning seriously and did my best to prepare for those scary government exams.
But by the time we finally wrote the exams in early June, I found they were not nearly as bad as the teachers had made them out to be.
In fact, the topics covered and the questions asked on most of them were very general in nature, and we were given choices as to what questions we wanted to answer so we could steer away from the ones we were less familiar with.
In retrospect, I figure the government exams were meant to be written by students in all the high schools in the province so, without knowing what specifically each class and school covered in each subject, those who developed the exams had little choice but to make them as general as possible.
I also figure that one good reason that I found them much easier than I anticipated was the fact that my teachers had told us to prepare to be thoroughly grilled in the subjects we were tested on so I probably over prepared for them.
Whether the teachers really thought they would be tough exams, or just wanted to scare us to work harder, it was a good strategy in their efforts for us to get good grades.
But no matter how much you prepare, sometimes fate just works against you.
There was good friend of mine at the time that I will call Craig (mainly because that’s his name) who also took the teachers’ warnings seriously and prepared hard for the final exams.
We studied for our English exam together and were nervous when we entered the study hall where the tests would be administered.
It consisted of four questions, of which we could choose two to answer.
Like most of the other exams, I chose the two that I was most comfortable with and began working away on them.
It was a two-hour test and after just about an hour, Craig stood up, handed in his exam and walked out the door after looking back at me with a shrug.
After another hour went by, I finished my exam and met Craig in the cafeteria.
I asked how he thought he did and he said it wasn’t too bad considering we had to answer just one question out of two.
I told him that, actually, we were supposed to answer two questions out of four and I remember all the blood drained out of Craig’s face and he looked like he was going to pass out.
He said he only saw two questions and I pointed out that the other two questions were written on the other side of the exam sheet, which he failed to turn over.
Craig immediately jumped up and ran back to the exam room where he quickly explained to the teacher what he had done.
But, even though Craig had been a good student, she said she couldn’t make any exceptions and he should have read the exam’s instructions more carefully.
Craig was depressed for the rest of the day, but the final exam was worth 50 per cent of his final grade in that course so, with a fairly good mark in the rest of the class, he still passed the course, but with a much lower grade than expected.
Anyway, Craig went on to become a teacher and I bet that he makes it a point to tell his students to follow the instructions carefully on every test and exam he gives them.
I guess the best lessons come from making bad mistakes.
